This invention relates to a seat belt reacher for simplifying the handling of a tongue and buckle of a seat belt apparatus when the tongue and the buckle are joined by a seated passenger in order to fasten the seat belt.
In order for a passenger to get in the back seat of a two-door automobile, the passenger opens the front door on, say, the driver's seat side, tilts the back of this seat forward and then enters the automobile from this side and sits down in the back seat. In order to get out of the automobile, the passenger performs the foregoing procedure in reverse, moving forwardly from the back seat and exiting from the vehicle. Consequently, if component parts of a front seat belt apparatus such as a seat-belt retractor and seat-belt anchor are provided at the side of the front seat, these parts impede the movement of the passenger to and from the back seat. Accordingly, these parts are provided at a suitable location in back of the front seat in the prior art.
However, if the retractor and seat-belt anchor are provided in the back of the vehicle in this manner, the tongue of the seat belt also is situated at the back. As a consequence, when a passenger sits down in the front seat and attempts to fasten the seat belt, the passenger must lean backward, grasp the tongue and bring it forward. This is a very troublesome operation.
Accordingly, in the prior art, a service arm for guiding the seat-belt webbing and the tongue is provided. Under ordinary conditions, the service arm is situated forwardly so that the tongue and webbing are held at a position close to the front seat to facilitate handling of the tongue. When the passenger gets into the back seat, the service arm is moved backward to situate the tongue and webbing rearwardly, thereby enabling the passenger to sit down in the back seat without being impeded. In this case, the service arm is mounted on the vehicle body at the side of and above the rear seat.
Ordinarily, the front seat of an automobile is positionally adjustable back and forth so that it can be adapted to the build of the seated passenger. Consequently, in the arrangement in which the service arm is mounted on the vehicle body at the side of and above the rear seat, as mentioned above, the distance between the front seat and the tongue of the seat belt increases when the front seat is adjusted to the forward position, and this has the effect of diminishing the advantage gained by positioning the tongue forward by means of the service arm. Thus, there is a change in the amount of reach necessary at the adjusted position of the seat. As a consequence, even though the service arm is provided, the problem associated with the handling of the tongue remains.